Description
This research will explore the social forces that inform trans masculine identity and subjectivity. Fifteen self-identified trans masculine individuals participated in audio-recorded interviews. Using grounded theory, interviews were coded according to the following nine themes: interactions with cisgender men, policing of gender in the transgender community, policing of gender in ethnic community, policing of gender outside the transgender community, policing ethnicity inside the transgender community, policing ethnicity outside the transgender community, rituals and socialization, privilege, self-policing. The extent to which participants experienced the aforementioned were mediated by their age, ethnicity, and specific self-identifier. This research will inform the practice of social service people working in the transgender and queer population by complicating the common narrative of the transgender community as cohesive and homogenous. It will also provide social workers with a theoretical framework to better understand the dynamic and contextual relationship individuals may have with their gender
